


The Best Birthday Ever. Officially.

by AlicesOwnWonderland



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 12:16:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16387562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlicesOwnWonderland/pseuds/AlicesOwnWonderland
Summary: Keith has always struggled with his birthdays. Over the years, he hasn't really seen the need to celebrate. But with Shiro it was different. With Shiro, his whole life was different.





	The Best Birthday Ever. Officially.

**Author's Note:**

> In honor of my boy Keith's birthday. Shiro loves you, baby.
> 
> Most characters listed only make brief appearances as there's little dialogue in this fic and the only ones who speak are Shiro and Keith. This fic is a summary of Keith's life up until his birthday. My first solo fic in a while so I apologize if it's rough. Please enjoy.

Keith was not used to spending birthdays with people. Generally, after his father died, it had been just him, which ended up meaning that he usually forgot his birthday. Sure, when he was young, he remembered. Had a small cupcake he’d blow out the candle on. But after a few years… he stopped seeing the point. Why celebrate alone? His existence wasn’t special. Not something to celebrate. He was just another punk kid with too much bark and bite.

And then Shiro had come into the picture. Shiro, who never gave up on him even when he got in another fight or skipped another class. Shiro, who always encouraged him to do his best. Who always believed in him. Who actually made him believe his existence was worth something again. It was Shiro, who helped him celebrate his first birthday in years. He even got Keith a present. Some finger-less gloves. He never took those off. It was Keith’s best birthday ever.

And then Shiro disappeared during his Kerberos mission and Keith vowed to never celebrate another birthday again. Clearly, the fates were out to get him. He wasn’t allowed to celebrate his birthday. He wasn’t allowed to celebrate his existence. His mom was never there. His dad was gone. And now Shiro was missing.

Keith never believed Shiro died. He knew the other was still out there. So he threw himself back into finding Shiro. He had to. Shiro was all he had left and he was going to find him if it was the last thing he did. Maybe finally prove his existence was actually worth something by finding his reason for existence.

And he found him. He found Shiro and everything was falling back into place, though with a little added hiccup of Pidge, Hunk, and Lance’s presence. Pidge and Hunk weren’t bad but Lance was annoying. Keith didn’t think he would ever get along with Lance.

Especially since Lance immediately dragged them to a blue lion spaceship that sent them across a galaxy and then some while being a really shitty pilot, Christ, how did Lance ever think he was his rival?

But then he met Allura and Coran and got involved by finding Voltron and he was apparently a paladin of the Red one and who the fuck put him in charge of such a stubborn ship, this was such bullshit--

But of course, once he was in Red’s cockpit, he understood just how cool this all really was. He loved flying Red. Red was part of him.

And he felt like his reason for existence grew just a little bit.

So they fought as Voltron. All five of them against the galra with Allura and Coran’s help. They fought against robo-beasts and druid magic and an evil space alien dictator and they did it all together. 

There were victories. Lots of victories. And losses. So many losses. Keith lost Shiro again. His world shattered. He’d just gotten him back. And the others were so quick to give up? How could they all just give up on Shiro like that? He hated it. Hated this. And then… the universe needed Voltron, and he just couldn’t argue with it anymore. Blue had chosen Allura. Red had chosen Lance. He needed Black. He needed Black to help find Shiro.  
So they kept going. Kept fighting together. They kept winning. And they found Shiro again. Keith found Shiro again. Had saved him. And he would again. As many times as it took.

And with the true Black Paladin back… Keith found himself debating his existence again. He didn’t want to take Red back from Lance, because he had found the other wasn’t so bad after all, and he didn’t want Allura to potentially lose Blue either by forcing Red away from Lance and Blue taking Lance back. So he left for the Blades. It was better this way. Voltron didn’t need him. All their slots were full.

Kolivan taught him so much. And he still got to help Voltron and the rest of the universe. His time away from Shiro was… hard. He missed him. More than he should. So he threw himself into missions to make up for it. And it was working. They were winning. They acquired Prince Lotor, which helped. That didn’t stop the missions. The Galra were still fighting. And then Keith had to save Lotor’s stupid ass from getting blown up by a bomb during this stupid fight to figure out who was Emperor again and there was just lots of fighting everywhere and Keith was almost killed. But then Acxa saved him and he left. Lotor was Emperor. Things were fine. He had his mother now. And they had to figure out how to get out of this stupid time warp. But they found Kosmo which was an added bonus. And Alteans. They found Romelle who proved Lotor was lying to them which made Keith’s blood boil. So they went back.

And all hell broke loose. Shiro wasn’t Shiro. And Keith… it hurt. It hurt so much. He should have known. He would have known if he was there. Why hadn’t he been there? He was so stupid and now Shiro was gone and he didn’t even have time to grieve because he needed to stop Lotor and he was going to rip Lotor apart along with Haggar.

This wasn’t the only Shiro clone. There were so many. Keith wanted to be sick. Haggar… She was a monster. She did this to Shiro. She’d done this. And now he was fighting one of the clones and it was hard. He didn’t want to hurt Shiro but this wasn’t Shiro and his heart was screaming at him the whole time. He loved him, he loved him--

“Shiro, please. I love you.” He choked out and he could see Shiro’s expression shift from pure hatred to shock. He had gotten through to him. Despite everything, he’d gotten through. He cut Shiro’s arm off, severing his connection with Haggar as the facility fell around them and he clung to Shiro. As they fell, he held on as tightly as he could.

Shiro hadn’t given up on him and he would rather die than live without him.

When he woke up, he wasn’t dead like he should have been. Or at least, he didn’t think he was. And Shiro… Shiro was there. The real Shiro. The one who had died after the fight with Zarkon. Who the Black Lion had absorbed so he wasn’t lost. He was still there. After everything, it was still him. His Shiro.

He had to get back. He had to save everyone else too. He loved them too. They had become his family. Pidge, Hunk, Lance, Allura, Coran, the Blades… All of them. He begged Shiro to help him. To give him the strength. And with both of them, the wings of the Black Lion flew them back just in time to see Lotor’s defeat. They lost the castle, but Keith got Shiro back. The real Shiro. They had saved each other again. And they were going home.

Shiro wouldn’t wake up. He had to wake up. He had just gotten him back. He needed Shiro. They all did. They needed to find a way to get back home but the Lions didn’t have much power. Coran was doing all they could, but Keith could feel himself breaking. He had lost Shiro so many times. Was he just fated to not exist? He slammed his fist onto the pod, letting the frustration and grief at losing the person he loved the most finally overtake him… when Shiro woke up. And he wanted to weep in relief but he just… hugged him. Hugged him like he was never going to let go. He almost kissed him then and there, but… this was okay too.

Then of course when they discover an old Blades outpost, which is abandoned, they’re ambushed. Underpowered, they do the best they can. They escape the fleet… only to be snatched by two of Lotor’s old generals Ezor and Zethrid. They escape that too, with Acxa’s help, who reveals three years have passed since they fought Lotor. They need to move faster.

Their usual travels are interrupted by a stupid game show and Keith doesn’t have time for this shit. They need to go home. They need to finish this fight. Keith definitely did not need to be wearing his hair in a top ponytail and sucking on a stupid fucking pacifier. And when Bob asks which person should escape from the show… Keith hesitates. If Shiro had been there, he wouldn’t have. But… Lance had done a lot to help him too. He deserved to go home. He had so much family who probably missed him. Keith… All his family was here. Shiro and Kroila and the paladins… Keith didn’t have a home to go back to. So he picked Lance. And Lance picked him. And Hunk picked Allura and Allura picked Pidge and Pidge picked Hunk. So they all went back.

Then they were drawn in by Macidus and his story, which turned out to be a lie, and Keith killed him to avenge his family. Kolivan… Kolivan was alive. His psuedo-father was alive and Keith was so grateful. Krolia stays to help him rebuild the Blades. And they get trapped in a storm, which drives everyone, including Keith, mad. But Hunk was the one to save them that day, and the storm drove them closer to Earth.

Only to find out the Galra are already there. And now they’re more desperate to get back. The others to their families. Keith and Shiro to help everyone. Finally they can contact Sam, who warns them not to bring the lions or Earth will suffer Sendak’s wrath. So they leave the Lion’s on Saturn only to be captured by the Galra then saved by James Griffin. Keith would have rather saved himself. Lance and Pidge reunite with their families, but Hunk’s have been captured. Sanda wants to trade Voltron for Earth and Keith wants to punch her idiot head. She hasn’t fought Sendak like they have. She has no idea how he works. But he has to help Hunk try to rescue his family.

Shiro is struggling with his new arm and Keith wants to help but he doesn’t know how. Eventually, Allura is able to help with the crystal in her circlet and Keith can breathe again, knowing Shiro isn’t in danger anymore. So he goes on the scouting mission with everyone and things are dicey and it was Sanda. Fucking Sanda sold them out to Sendak and Keith is furious. Everything they’ve fought for. Everything they’ve done. Sanda ruined it.

So of course they’re captured and they have to fight their way out and they’re almost killed by Sendak but they manage to free themselves with Sanda, who realized her mistake, begs with her last breath to save Earth.  
They manage to turn the tide and even manage to turn Sendak’s cannon’s against him with Shiro’s help. Sendak’s ship plummets along with Keith’s stomach when he realizes Shiro is alone to face Sendak. He’s not losing him. Not again. And especially not to that monster. And just as Sendak is about to deal the finishing blow, Keith jumps from Black to slice Sendak in half, killing him.

He is not going to lose his existence. Not again. And he’s rushing over to Shiro. Rushing to his side. He needs to make sure he’s safe and he is. He’s breathing and he’s alive. But of course that victory is short lived as a robot plummets into the earth and now he has to deal with that.

Voltron gets taken apart. The robot saps out Voltron’s energy and Keith is going to die. He won’t have to worry about his existence anymore because it really won’t be there anymore. The last thing he thinks about is Shiro, how he won’t be able to protect him anymore. And it hurts. It hurts so bad. He needs to protect Shiro.  
But Shiro saves him this time. Shiro connects with Atlas, who is massive compared to Voltron, and incapacitates it with just enough time they can form a plan. They manage to find it’s weak point and get it to self-destruct in space. They recover. The rest of the resistance joins them. He’s reunited with his mother and Kolivan. Things are better. They have a moment to breathe.

And in this moment to breathe, Keith wakes up in bed, feeling better. He gets up, gets dressed, and heads to the main area, Kosmo trotting behind him. He steps into the common area and is immediately jumped on by Pidge, Lance, and Romelle who scream happy birthday to him. Allura and Coran pop party poppers. Hunk holds up a delicious looking cake. His mother and Kolivan smile proudly at him in the background. And Shiro… Shiro looks at him with… such an open expression, Keith has to look away, his cheeks burning.

The party is nice. Keith has more presents than he knows what to do with. Pidge gets him a plush hippo. Lance gets him some chocolates. Romelle, Allura, and Coran get him a milkshake courtesy of Kaltenecker. His mom gives him an old photo she had of her and Keith’s father during Keith’s birth. She looks tired but happy. Dad looks overjoyed. He used to be so tiny. Kolivan gives him a recording of the Blade’s observations on his progress. He misses their voices. Thace. Ulaz. Regris. Antok. All of them. He knows Kolivan misses them too. Especially Antok.

The party dies down and Keith carries all of his presents to his room. When he manages to put everything in place, a knock on the door sounds and he opens it to see Shiro.

“Hey.” He greets and Keith gives a shy smile of his own.

“Hey.” He greets right back and they’re left in a silence for a moment.

“That was a fun party.” Shiro tries again and Keith gives a soft chuckle.

“Yeah, it was. The most fun I’ve had in a while.” He smiles and Shiro smiles right back.

“I’m glad you had fun. You deserve it.” He murmured and Keith’s heart melts at the soft expression on his face. “I’m sorry I didn’t get you anything.”

Keith shook his head. “You’ve gotten me more than enough. Plus…” He wiggled his hands where he wore his finger-less gloves. “These have covered your present obligation.”

Shiro softened even more. “I can’t believe those are the same pair. And you still have them.”

“Of course.” Keith immediately replied. “They’re important to me. Why would I ever get rid of them?” He tried to take the best care he could with them. Sure, they were a little worn, but they were ancient for gloves.

“I’m really glad you like them.” Shiro murmured, moving closer and Keith could feel his heart fluttering. He leaned his head up too look at Shiro, and he could feel himself tilting slightly to take everything in and then Shiro’s hand was on his back and his other hand was cupping his chin and then Shiro leaned in and they were kissing--

Oh my god, they were kissing and Keith didn’t think his heart could grow any bigger, it was going to fly out of his throat and he was kissing back and wrapping his arms around Shiro’s neck to pull him closer and he needed to breathe so they pulled away so they could both do that. Shiro just looked at him with… adoration and love in his eyes and Keith could feel himself sinking, sinking, sinking.

“Happy birthday, Keith. I love you, baby.” He murmured before diving right back in and Keith decided then and there that birthdays were very important. His existence was important.

Also this was the best birthday ever. Officially.


End file.
